Afghan Forces, Insurgents Use Schools As Strongholds: MoE

The Afghan security forces and the anti-government insurgent groups are using schools as military bases during offensives against each other, an official from the Afghan Ministry of Education (MoE) said Monday.

“About 67 schools are being used as military bases across the country,” MoE Spokesman Kabir Haqmal said. “Some of these schools are being used by the Afghan national security and defense forces while others by the anti-government forces.”

According to the officials, more than a thousand schools are still closed across the country where millions of students are deprived of education.

But a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior (MoI) rejected the allegations of Afghan forces using schools as their strongholds.

“There has been no incident where the Afghan forces have used schools as military bases. Unfortunately, the Taliban militants are still using schools and madrassas as their strongholds,” MoI Spokesman Najib Danish said.

Fatima Nazari, a member of the lower house of parliament urges the government to pay more attention to the closed schools since “it is depriving children of education which is their legitimate right”.

This comes as during the last one month, at least two schools were burned in Logar and Nangarhar provinces of the country by the anti-government insurgent groups.